Akiho recounts how a latenight summer nap beneath a cemetery tree inspired its main ideas, but what especially engages the attention is the piece’s combination of obsessive yet ever-shifting patterns with unpredictable timbral combinations (including a toy piano). Calling for the largest ensemble of the three works here, Speaking Tree is scored for brass quintet, string quintet and percussion. Much as the trees of this category are transformed through varied stages comprising the life cycle, Akiho’s musical thoughts and colours gradually metamorphose to reveal new aspects that remain dormant or hidden until they shoot forth into the foreground. uk Deciduous gives a chance to hear the composer’s virtuosity on steel pan, presented in dialogue with Kristin Lee’s supple violin-playing. Lurking within the suite’s currents of vibrant energy, a sense of elegy emerges at moments, alongside mysterious rustlings and sighs, to cast its shadow. LIgNEouS shares something of the architectural vigour and immersive aesthetic of his most ambitious work to date, Seven Pillars, a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize. No matter how conceptually layered, structurally complex or intricately precise in their rhythmic articulation, his scores tap into a fundamental vibrancy that is reliably invigorating. Akiho’s boldly original compositions are rooted in his experience as a steel pan performer. The engrossing performance by Ian Rosenbaum (of Sandbox Percussion) and the Dover Quartet unfolds as an astonishingly varied array of timbral interchanges and attacks – Akiho is especially fond of Bartók pizzicatos, a version of which he implements for the marimba as well – which continually reconfigure the alliance between marimba and string quartet. This far-ranging, five-movement suite emphasises the ‘woodiness’ that the marimba shares with the violin, viola and cello. In LIgNEouS, the central work on this trio of tree-inspired compositions, Andy Akiho expands his understanding of that physical dimension to encompass the sonic phenomena of instruments made primarily from the same material. 63’) a As masters of the art of hitting things, percussionists are deeply connected to the sheer physicality of making music. Speaking Treec Kristin Lee, cGrace Park, cRachel Lee Priday vns c Nathan Schram va cAlice Yoo vc cSam Suggs db c Laura Weiner hn cThomas Bergeron, cChris Scanlon tpts cStephen Dunn tbn cJerome Stover tuba cIan Sullivan perc aAndy Akiho steel pan b Ian Rosenbaum mari bDover Quartet Aki Rhythm Productions (ARP-R003 JANUARY 2023 .uk RACHMANINOV at 150 The great pianist and composer in America and on record UNITED KINGDOM £6.95 PLUS Byrd, Weelkes, Fretwork and The King’s Singers – united on record The music of multifaceted composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto: we name the best recordings A special eight-page section focusing on recent recordings from the US and Canada Akiho ‘Oculus’ Deciduousa. C O M P E T I T I O N G U I D E S P O T T I N G T H E S TA R S O F T O M O R R O W ! THE WORLD’S BEST CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEWS Est 1923.
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